Ice bunker refrigerator



June 20, 1961 P. GREENE ICE BUNKER REFRIGERATOR Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 7, 1960 INVENTOR. RquL GIPEE/Y ymwmi June 20, 1961 Filed March 7, 1960 P. GREENE ICE BUNKER REFRIGERATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 GOOOOOG OOOOOOO United States Patent 2,988,901 ICE BUNKER REFRIGERATOR Paul Greene, 20 Grassfield Road, Kings Point, N.Y. filed Mar. 7, 1960, Ser. No. 13,017 7 Claims. (Cl. 62-418) This invention relates to an ice bunker refrigerator and is particularly concerned with an ice bunker refrigerator of the type used to cool closed chambers for commercial purposes. Examples of such chambers are railway refrigerator cars, refrigerated automobile truck bodies, refrigerated trailer bodies, and food and flower storage chambers.

It has been proposed heretofore to utilize ice bunker refrigerators for cooling chambers of the type hereinabove described in order to avoid the high cost of mechanical refrigeration, that is to say, to employ comparatively inexpensive equipment for cooling purposes in conjunction with replaceable masses of ice. Refrigerators of this type are particularly useful where humidity is not a factor, that is to say, where the space to be cooled is intended to be occupied by inanimate objects rather than by persons.

However, previous ice bunker refrigerators have not made the most efiicient use of ice and equipment; and it is, accordingly, an object of my present invention to provide a refrigerator of the character described which is able to cool larger chambers than present-day refrigerators of this nature and to cool them more uniformly and at a lower cost.

More particularly, it is an object of my invention to provide an ice bunker refrigerator which does not, like older refrigerators of this kind, localize the cooling zone to the vicinity of the ice bunker but, rather, distributes the cooling effect throughout the entire body of the closed chamber.

It is another object of my invention to provide an ice bunker refrigerator in which a better heat exchange arrangement is provided between the ice in the bunker and the air which is re-circulated through the bunker.

Other objects of my invention in part will be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

My invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the ice bunker refrigerator hereinafter described, and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of my invention,

FIG. 1 is a partially broken away side elevational view of an automobile truck having a closed body in which there is mounted an ice bunker refrigerator constructed in accordance with my present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the refrigerator apart from the truck body, said refrigerator being portable for mounting in any closed chamber;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the refrigerator;

FIG. 4 is a front-to-back vertical sectional view through said refrigerator; and

FIG. 5 is a. horizontal sectional view through said refrigerator, the same being taken substantially along the line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral denotes a conventional truck which for the purpose of illustration I have shown in combination with an ice bunker refrigerator 12 embodying my invention. Thetruck is quite standard and includes the usual closed body 14 wherein the refrigerator 12 is located. Prior to the present invention, it hasbeen conventional to place an ice bunker refrigerator against the front wall of the ice in the bunker at the level of these central zones, said,

body, i.e., the wall in back of the cab 16, and it has been found that such a refrigerator tended to markedly cool the zone near the refrigerator, but to affect the temperature of the remainder of the enclosed space to a far lesser degree. In particular, the air at the portion of the chamber adjacent the back of the body tended to become stagnant and thereby to be at too high a temperature. This is overcome by the improved refrigerator 12 that embodies my invention.

Said refrigerator 12 includes an ice bunker 18, an air intake system 20 and an air pump, i.e., a fan 22.

More particularly, the ice bunker 18 constitutes an outer container 24 and an inner container 26. The outer container has a front wall 28, a rear wall 30, and side walls 32, 34. It also includes a bottom wall 36 and a fragmentary top wall 38. The rear wall 30 which is designed to be placed adjacent one of the walls of the closed chamber, e.g., the front wall of the closed truck body, is imperforate, that is to say, unapertured. The bottom wall 36 is imperforate in the main, being provided only With one drain opening 40 to which there isconnected a drip pipe 42 that is designed to extend through the bottom of the truck body to enable Water formed by melting of the ice to fall onto the road surface. Said bottom wall 36 slopes toward the opening 40 to facilitate drainage.

The front wall 28 of the outer container and both side Walls 32, 34 thereof are formed with two bands of openings, to wit, an upper band of openings 44 and a lower band of openings 46. This spacing of the two bands of openings is one of the features of the present invention which particularly enhances the heat exchange effected between the ice contained in the bunker 26 and the air re-circulated over the same. The openings in each band can be of any type. They may be constituted,-for instance, simply by a group of small perforations of the metal of the front Wall as shown herein, or, if desired, they can be formed by providing a large opening at each band, and mounting perforated panels, e.g., panels of expanded metal, thereover. I particularly wish to point out different horizontal levels, the upper band being adjacent the top wall 38 and the lower band being adjacent the bottom wall 36. Thereby, the central zone 38 of the front wall 28 and of the side walls 32, 34 are imperforate and prevent egress of cooled air that has passed over the air being forced to leave the bunker either at the high level of the band 44 or the low level of the band 46.

The walls of the outer container 24 are fabricated from any suitable material, for example sheet metal, being permanently and securely joined to one another, as by weldingor riveting. Preferably, the upper portions of the front, back and side walls are inturned to define coplanar. flanges which jointly constitute the fragmentary top wall- 38, the inner edges of the flanges defining a large central opening 50 which is the mouth of the ice bunker 18. Suitable legs 52 attached to the unders'urface of the bottom wall 36 are provided to support the ice bunker and to enable it to be bolted to the floor of any closed chamber.

The inner container 26 has front and back walls 54', 56, side walls 58, 60 and a bottom wall 62 all of which are perforate. For economy, the front, back and side walls of the inner container are made of expanded metal, the openings therein constituting the major part of the stitute said walls, occupy a rather small space-in order to provide for a large total area of openings which enable re-circulating air to have a minimum of obstruc.-.

tion as it flows onto and leaves the masses of ice within the inner container 26. However, the openings in the horizontal bottom wall 62 need not be as large since they only are required for permitting outflow of the melted ice and, therefore, for the bottom wall I may use perforated sheet metal. The front, back, side and bottom walls ofthe inner container are suitably secured to one another, as by welding or riveting. For reinforcement, I may mount angle irons 64 around the mouth of the inner container. Likewise, angle irons 66 are secured, as by welding, along the four vertical corners of the inner container, and angle irons 68 are similarly secured to the four bottom horizontal corners of the container, all for the purpose of reinforcement.

The inner container 26 is disposed within the outer container 24 with the mouth of the inner container in registry and substantially in coincidence with the mouth 50 of the outer container. The inner container is of lesser height than the outer container, so that a space 69 is provided between the bottom walls 36 and 62 of the two containers. Said inner container is supported by extending the vertical angleirons 66 down into contact with the bottom wall of the outer container. Moreover, if desired, the angle irons 64 can be permanently secured, as by welding or riveting, to the inturned flanges constituting the fragmentary top wall 38 of the outer eontainer. All internal and external surfaces of the two containers preferably are coated with a rust-preventative to protect the same from the unfavorable ambient atmosphere in which the ice bunker refrigerator functions.

Attention is called to the vertical air channels 70, 72, 74 at the front, back and sides of the ice bunker 18 between the outer and inner containers 24, 26. These channels extend all the way from the top to the bottom of the ice bunker and form a path of communication, particularly at the front and sides of the ice bunker, between the completely open front and side walls of the inner container and the dividedly (top and bottom) open front and side Walls of the outer container.

The air intake system 20 constitutes an induction, i.e., aspiration, means in the form of an elongated sheet metal aspiration conduit 76 that differs in kind from previous induction pipes for ice bunker refrigerators. Said conduit 76 runs substantially the full length of the closed chamber in which the ice bunker refrigerator is located. Heretofore, it has been customary for the intake conduit to terminate near the ice bunker, i.e., the ice container, and this was one of the principal causes of stagnation of the air in the chamber. However, as will be apparent from the drawings, I extend the aspiration conduit 76 over substantially the full length of the closed chamber, cating the same near the ceiling thereof, and moreover, and of equal importance, providing openings in said conduit over substantially its entire length. Thereby air is drawn into the conduit from points all along the length of the chamber.

The rear end of the aspiration conduit is completely open so that at this point there is a large cross section through which air can be drawn in from all over the back of the closed chamber. Accordingly, the aspiration conduit terminates at a point spaced from the back of the chamber. However, over its length from its rear end to the pump 22 the conduit is provided with a large number of small openings so that there will be a uniform infusion of air from the chamber into the air induction means throughout the chamber as a whole.

It is intended that the air aspiration conduit be secured to the ceiling of the closed chamber, and hence the top wall of said conduit is imperforate in contradistinction to its perforate side and bottom walls. Moreover, to facilitate connection of the conduit to the ceiling, I prefer so to form the conduit that transversely outwardly extending flanges 78 are provided at each side of the top wall of said conduit, these fianges having open- 4 ings for the passage of fastening means, such as screws, that engage the ceiling.

Desirably, the aspiration conduit 76 constitutes a plurality of sections, for example three, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the ends of which are telescopically interengageable in the same fashion as sheet metal stove pipe.

The foremost conduit section engages the intake fitting 82 of the air pump 22. The rear end of the intake fitting is telescopically shaped to receive the front end of said conduit section and said fitting 82 may fiare forwardly to lower the speed of the air passing therethrough as it turns through a right angle to enter the air pump. Moreover, I include a curved plate 84 at the remote front corner of the fitting 82 to smooth the changein direction of air. A side wall of the fitting is formed with an opening 86 into which the intake connection 88 of the air pump 22 is snugly received. The air pump is itself entirely conventional, constituting for example an electrically driven exhaust fan 90 carried by a bracket 92 adapted to be secured to the front wall of the closed chamber. The outlet connection 94 of the exhaust fan fits into the upper open end of a vertical sheet metal discharge conduit 96 that runs from the fan to the ice bunker 13.

The rear portion of the top wall 38 of the outer container 24 is formed to include an opening 98 from which there extends upwardly a squat funnel 100' of substantially rectangular configuration that is shaped and dimensioned to fit nicely within the lower end of the vertical discharge conduit 96. The bottom of the funnel 100 leads into the narrow top end of a fiat diffusing trumpet 102, the front and side walls of which are constituted by one piece of sheet metal and the rear wall of which comprises the rear wall 30 of the outer container 24. It will be observed that the flared downwardly directed open mouth of the thin trumpet is located at about the middle of the height of the vertical channel 72 between the back walls 30, 56 of the outer and inner containers 24, 26, whereby air discharged from the fan 90 is blown into the ice bunker at the back and about the middle of the jacket space surrounding the inner container 26. Because the discharged air is warmer than its new iced environment, some of the air will rise, recirculating as it does so over the ice in the inner container and eventually leaving the ice bunker through the upper band of openings 44. The remaining air will, due to its downward direction of discharge, be recirculated over the ice in the inner container and pass out through the lower band of openings 46. Flow in this latter manner is encouraged by a curved deflector plate 104 which closes the bottom end of the channel 72. The foregoing two paths of flow encompass the greater quantity of ice in the bunker so that maximum advantage is taken of the available cooling surface provided by the masses of ice in the inner container.

The air leaving the ice bunker through the bands of openings 44, 46 will not tend to rise immediately, as it has heretofore due to the local lowered pressure at the air intake of a short imperforate induction pipe, but now will flow down the length of the floor of the closed chamber. Of course, there will be some upward How of cooled air over the full length of the closed chamber, inasmuch as induction takes place over the entire length of the aspiration conduit 76.

In this manner I have been able to secure a fairly uniform reduction in temperature throughout the entire closed chamber.

It will be readily apparent that the ice bunker refrigerator 12 can readily be removed from any given closed chamber simply by detaching the aspiration conduit 76 and bracket 92 from the walls of the chamber and lifting out the ice bunker refrigerator which thereupon will immediately be ready for re-installation in any other desired locale.

I It thus will be seen, that I have provided an ice bunker refrigerator-which accomplishes all the objects of my invention and is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention and as various changes might be made in the ice bunker refrigerator above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter hereinabove described and shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. For use in a closed chamber having a ceiling, an ice bunker refrigerator comprising an ice bunker, an air aspiration conduit and an air pump having an intake and an outlet, said ice bunker constituting an outer container and an inner container, said inner container having its walls spaced inwardly from the corresponding walls of the outer container, both said containers having open mouths, the mouth of the outer container being constricted, said mouths being coextensive, said outer container having an opening in the top wall thereof between the two containers, air conduit means connecting the outlet of the air pump to said opening, a trumpet having a downwardly flaring portion extending downwardly between said two containers from said opening and terminating at a discharge mouth located between the top and bottom of the inner container, said inner container being perforate, said outer container having on at least one side wall thereof remote from the trumpet, a top opening and a bottom opening and an imperforate portion between said last-named openings whereby air discharged from said trumpet and re-circulating over ice in the inner container will be discharged in part through the top opening and in part through the bottom opening, the intake of said pump being connected to said air aspiration conduit, said air aspiration conduit being adapted to be secured to the ceiling of the closed chamber and being of a length such that it extends over substantially the full length of said chamber, the walls of said air aspiration conduit being perforated over substantially the full length thereof and the end of said conduit remote from said air pump being open.

2. For use in a closed chamber having a ceiling, an ice bunker refrigerator comprising an ice bunker, an air aspiration conduit and an air pump having an intake and an outlet, said ice bunker constituting an outer container and an inner container, said inner container having its walls spaced inwardly from the corresponding walls of the outer container, both said containers having open mouths, the mouth of the outside container being constricted, said mouths being coextensive, said outer container having an opening in the top wall thereof between the two containers, air conduit means connecting the outlet of the air pump to said opening, a trumpet having a downwardly flaring portion extending downwardly between said two containers from said opening and terminating at a discharge mouth located between the top and bottom of the inner container, said inner container being perforate, said outer container having on at least one side wall thereof remote from the trumpet a top opening and a bottom opening and an imperforate portion between said lastnamed openings whereby air discharged from said trumpet and re-circulating over ice in the inner container will be discharged in part through the top opening and in part through the bottom opening, the intake of said pump being connected to said air aspiration conduit, said air aspiration conduit being adapted to be secured to the ceiling of the closed chamber and being of a length such that it extends over substantially the full length of said chamber, the walls of said air aspiration conduit being perforated over substantially the full length thereof.

3. For use in a closed chamber having a ceiling, an ice bunker refrigerator comprising an ice bunker, an air aspiration conduit and an air pump having an intake and an outlet, said ice bunker constituting an outer container and an inner container, said inner container having its walls spaced inwardly from the corresponding walls of the outer container, both said containers having open mouths, the mouth of the outer container being constricted, said mouths being coextensive, said outer container having an opening in the top wall thereof between the two containers, air conduit means connecting the outlet of the air pump to said opening, a trumpet having a downwardly flaring portion extending downwardly between said two containers from said opening and terminating at a discharge mouth located between the top and bottom of the inner container, said inner container being perforate, said outer container having on at least one side wall thereof remote from the trumpet a top opening and a bottom opening and an imperforate portion between said lastnamed openings whereby air discharged from said trumpet and re-circulating over ice in the inner container will be discharged in part through the top opening and in part through the bottom opening, the intake of said pump being connected to said air aspiration conduit, said air aspiration conduit being adapted to be secured to the ceiling of the closed chamber, the walls of said air aspiration conduit being perforated over substantially the full length thereof.

4. For use in a closed chamber having a ceiling, an ice bunker refrigerator comprising an ice bunker, an air aspiration conduit and an air pump having an intake and an outlet, said ice bunker constituting an outer container and an inner container, said inner container having its walls spaced inwardly from the corresponding walls of the outer container, both said containers having open mouths, the mouth of the outer container being constricted, said mouths being coextensive, said outer container having an opening in the top wall thereof between the two containers, air conduit means connecting the outlet of the air pump to said opening, a trumpet having a downwardly flaring portion extending downwardly between said two containers from said opening and terminating at a discharge mouth located between the top and bottom of the inner container, said inner container being perforate, said outer container having on at least one side wall thereof remote from the trumpet a top opening and a bottom opening and an imperforate portion between said lastnamed openings whereby air discharged from said trumpet and re-circulating over ice in the inner container will be discharged in part through the top opening and in part through the bottom opening, the intake of said pump being connected to said air aspiration conduit, said air aspiration conduit being adapted to be secured to the ceiling of the closed chamber.

5. For use in a closed chamber having a ceiling, an ice bunker refrigerator comprising an ice bunker, an air aspiration conduit and an air pump having an intake and an outlet, said ice bunker constituting an outer container and an inner container, said inner container having its walls spaced inwardly from the corresponding walls of the outer container, both said containers having open mouths, the mouth of the outer container being constricted, said mouths being coextensive, said outer container having an opening in the top wall thereof between the two containers, air conduit means connecting the outlet of the air pump to said opening, said inner container being perforate, said outer container having on at least one side wall thereof a top opening and a bottom opening and an imperforate portion between said last-named openings whereby air discharged from said air conduit means and re-circulating over ice in the inner container will be discharged in part through the top opening and in part through the bottom opening, the intake of said pump being connected to said air aspiration conduit, said air aspiration conduit being adapted to be secured to the ceiling of the closed chamber and being of a length such that it extends over substantially the full length of said chamber, the walls of said air aspiration conduit being perforated over substantially the full length thereof and the end of said conduit remote from said air pump being open.

6. For use in a closed chamber having a ceiling, an ice bunker refrigerator comprising an ice bunker, an air aspiration conduit and an air pump having an intake and an outlet, said ice bunker constituting an outer container and an inner container, said inner container having its walls spaced inwardly from the corresponding walls of the outer container, both said containers having open months, the mouth of the outer container being constricted, said mouths being coextensive, said outer container having an opening in the top wall thereof between the two containers, air conduit means connecting the outlet of the air pump to said opening, a trumpet extending downwardly between said two containers from said opening and terminating at a discharge mouth located between the top and bottom of the inner container, said inner container being perforate, said outer container having an opening on at least one side wall thereof remote from the trumpet whereby air discharged from said trumpet and re-circulating over ice in the inner container will be discharged through said last-named opening in said remote wall, the intake of said pump being connected to said air aspiration conduit, said air aspiration conduit being adapted to be secured to the ceiling of the closed chamber and being of a length such that it extends over substantially the full length of said chamber, the walls of said air aspiration conduit being perforated over substantially the full length thereof and the end of said conduit remote from said air pump being open.

7. For use in a closed chamber having a ceiling, an ice bunker refrigerator comprising an ice bunker, an air aspiration conduit and an air pump having an intake and an outlet, said ice bunker constituting an outer container and an inner container, said inner container having its walls spaced inwardly from the corresponding walls of the outer container, both said containers having open mouths, the mouth of the outer container being constricted, said mouths being coextensive, said outer container having an opening in the top wall thereof between the two containers, air conduit means connecting the outlet of the air pump to said opening, the intake of said pump being connected to said air aspiration conduit, said air aspiration conduit being adapted to be secured to the ceiling of the closed chamber and being of a length such that it extends over substantially the full length of said chamber, the walls of said air aspiration conduit being perforated over substantially the full length thereof and the end of said conduit remote from said air pump being open.

Shaw Oct, 10, 1899 Hunter July 27, 1937 

